New Zealand, Australia welcomes New Year 2024 with fireworks and joy

Auckland [New Zealand], December 31 (ANI): The world has started celebrating the New Year 2024 and some major countries have welcomed the occasion with fireworks and joy.

Australia and New Zealand became the first major countries to welcome the new year 2024.

Over a million revellers celebrated the New Year on Sunday night amid stunning fireworks displays, illuminating the skies over Australia's Sydney Harbour and New Zealand's tallest structure, the Sky Tower in Auckland.

The light rain that had persisted throughout the day in Auckland had cleared by midnight over the city.

The countdown commenced against an illuminated digital display near the top of the 328-metre (1,076-foot) communications and observation tower, Al Jazeera reported.
As the clock struck midnight in Australia's largest city, Sydney, a 12-minute fireworks display erupted around the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Al Jazeera said in its reported that more than one million people watched from the shore and boats in the harbour.

The small Pacific island nations of Tonga, Samoa and Kiribati had ushered in the New Year an hour earlier. Notably, Kiribati, an island nation with 33 atolls, became the first place to bid farewell to 2023 and welcome the new year 2024 as International Date Line loops around Kiribati's easternmost islands.
The International Date Line (IDL) plays a crucial role in this temporal distinction, serving as the official starting and ending point of each day around the world. While an imaginary line, the IDL helps us understand the difference between night and day in different countries. Established in 1884, the IDL is located 180 degrees East (or West) and sits precisely halfway from the prime meridian (Greenwich, UK), which defines time zones.

Moreover, Taiwan also welcomed the New Year with fireworks. (ANI)